TIP OF THE WEEK - Shooting in Direct Sun

Yikes!  I nearly forgot about my promise yesterday to post the TIP OF THE WEEK today. It's nearly midnight here, and now I'd better get my bum in gear!! Now, that's dedication for you.

Ok, so the tip for this week...
I've been avoiding shooting in mid day sun like the plague until I learned a very important tip - 
(Drum roll please.... )

If you're shooting in  bright mid day, direct sunlight, turn your subject so she's standing IN FRONT of the sun.

In other words, the sun should be BEHIND your subject. I always thought that you, as the photographer, wanted to the sun behind you. Turns out, that's not true. If you have soft, even light, like at sunset, then yes, that light will rock your world. During the day, though, you want to rotate your subject, otherwise you're bound do get squinty eyes and shadows that are very unflattering.

This was actually taken pretty late in the afternoon, but check out the shadows under her eyes. It makes her eyes seem hallowed.

SO, turn your subject away from the sun, and spot meter of her face. This will dazzle you. I swear.

See how much better her face looks? There was a bit of light bouncing back up off the table which evened it out nicely.

Ok, how cute is she?! And look! No dark shadows.

And these are later in the day, but I just love back light, so I'm posting a few that I thought were super cute.

Bella's fashion sense. I love it!

 There you go, my friends. I hope this is useful to some of you. Have a wonderful weekend! Take it easy and keep on clickin' on! ; )